A new life for Sirius Black
by Liz Jean Tonks
Summary: Sirius returns to his home after his 5th year in Hogwarts. As he more and more despises his mother's "pure-blood mania" he runs away. And where else would he go but to his best friend, James Potter?


**AN: **Welcome! I have to say, even though I never really liked Sirius, I always felt very sorry for him. I wouldn't like to be born into the Black family. This fanfiction tells the story of young Sirius Black running away from home and staying with the Potters. I hope you enjoy it :)

Thanks so much to my wonderful beta-reader, NinjaDevil2000. She's a fabulous writer and friend.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Welcome Home**

The farther away from Hogwarts they got, the darker the expression on Sirius' face grew. As the train came to a stop, his face was pale and he was the last person to leave the compartment. James waited for him.

"Come on, Snuffles, cheer up," he said. "Summer vacation! Two months of freedom, no school, no schedules."

"Two months at my parent's house," Sirius remarked gloomily. "Two months without you guys." He looked at his other friends, Remus and Peter.

"You make it sound like we live on the other side of the world," James said. "We're living in the same country, remeber?"

Sirius didn't look one bit bit happier. "Being a Halfblood is like living on the other side of the world, if you ask my parents."

James smirked. "So what?" he said. "You can still come to my place – and what if Moony and Wormtail happen to be there too?"

Now, Sirius' expression brightened. At least until he saw a man with a long, dark robe and gloves standing at the end of the platform. Next to him stood Sirius' brother Regulus."My father is here," he muttered. "I'd better get going. See you."

James, Remus and Peter waved after him.

"Sirius," Mr Black said.

"Father."

"You're late."

"We were departing a couple of minutes late because Marlene McKinnon was missing."

"Regulus and I have been waiting for nearly five minutes while you were dawdling."  
"I was just saying goodbye to my friends," Sirius said with a spiteful look over to Regulus. "It's not my problem _he _doesn't have any."

"Sirius," his father said in a sharp tone.

Regulus just smirked. "I'd rather have no friends than the scum you run around with," he said, "but I guess hanging around with people like that comes along with getting sorted into Gryffindor."

He had achieved in catching Orion Black's attention. He glared at his elder son. "You aren't still hanging out with Lupin and Pettigrew, are you? Didn't I tell you last year to diverge from them?"

"They're my friends," Sirius hissed, "and I won't just abandon them just because you and Mother say so."

"Watch out," his father said and gave him an icy look. Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared back at him. "We'll have a little talk about the kind of company you're keeping later. Now come." He stretched out his arm. Regulus grabbed his hand first, then Sirius followed, with one last, longing look back at Platform 9 3/4.

* * *

They apparated on the floor of Grimmauld Place 12 and Sirius caught another disapproving look from his father when he stumbled over a shelf near the wall. Orion and Regulus proceeded to the living room while Sirius busied himself rearranging the artefacts that decorated the shelf.

He could hear his mother's voice as she greeted Regulus in the usual effusive manner. Sirius rolled his eyes, then he slowly entered the room in spite of the fact that every bone in him dissented and told him to run while he still had the chance.

As soon as he had entered the room, the talking stopped and everyone grew silent. Sirius closed the door behind him and his eyes met his mother's.

"Sirius," she said in a tensed voice. "Welcome home."

"Good evening, Mother."

There was at least one minute of absolute silence, until there was a crack and Kreacher, the house elf, appeared on the floor. He turned to Mrs Black.

"It is served, mistress," he said with a deep bow.

She turned to her sons and her husband and as they all proceeded to the dining room. The table was so large it reached from one side of the room to the other, about thirty feet long. They went to the back end of the table and sat down, Mr Black at the head of the table and his wife on his right. His sons sat down on his left and Sirius, staring down at his plate, started fiddling with the napkin until he looked up and saw his mother's eyes were resting on him. She seemed very disapproving. Sirius folded the napkin once more and then reached for his glass. It was empty, so he drew his wand out of his pocket and muttered: "Aguamenti."

Even before the glass had started to fill with water, his mother said in a biting tone, "Sirius, what do you think you're doing?"

He was about to take a drink but stopped in the movement. He glared at his mother. "What?" he said coldly. "I'm thirsty." He looked around. "And I can't spot anything to drink on this table, can you?"

"Enough," she said. Still looking at her son, she called: "Kreacher!" While she ordered the house elf to get something to drink, Sirius placidly took a sip of water. Mrs Black flickered her own wand with her wand to turn Sirius' glass empty again and said in a determined tone: "No magic at the table, young man."

Sirius glared at her and leaned back in his chair.

"So, Regulus," Mr Black said after a moment of silence, "how was your school year?"

"Fine," Regulus said. "The examinations were pretty hard, but I think I did well."

Orion smiled at him approvingly and turned to Sirius. "What about you?" he said in a harsh tone.

Sirius just shrugged. "How am I supposed to know how I did if I didn't get any results yet?"

Walburga Black took a sharp breath.

"It was your O.W.L. year," his father remarked.

Sirius smirked. "Oh, thanks for telling me that," he said coldly, "I had no idea. Now I realise why everyone at school made such a fuss about it, I thought I filled in the registration papers to join the Magical Club of Pixies and Butterflies."

Next to him, he heard a restrained chuckle. His parents were less amused.

"If you think being sorted into Gryffindor earns you a free ticket to laziness and joking around, you thought wrong," his father said.

"You better get decent results," his mother added. "You still belong to our family and I will not have you disgracing our name in any way, do you understand?"

"Yes," Sirius said spitefully. They had had this discussion about a dozen times already. And the worst part was that Regulus never argued with their parents. He was the perfect boy. It irritated Sirius more than anything.

* * *

It wasn't a fun evening, and Sirius got once more reminded of why he despised this house, and his parents. When they had finished eating and Sirius was about to withdraw, his father held him back.

"Regulus, you can go," he said, looking at the younger boy. "Your mother and I have something to discuss with your brother."

Regulus left the room, but not before he smirked at Sirius. Walburga Black was in the kitchen with Kreacher, so Orion and his son proceeded to the living room without her. His fater told him to sit down and wait for them, then he turned around and left the room.

Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back in the chair. He knew what was coming now. They had talked about it last year, and the year before last, and the year before that, and the year before that. Ever since they knew he was friends not only with James Potter, but with Remus and Peter as well, they tried to get him as far away from them as possible.

If anything, they only made him want to stick with them even more. The thought of a life without his friends was unbearable and it showed him once more how wrong his parents were with everything.

The door burst open and in came his mother. She looked angry.

"So you're still hanging around with Half-bloods." Her mouth got a little bit thinner.

"Here it goes," Sirius muttered.

"Excuse me?"

Calmly, he crossed his legs and put on a smile.

"Sirius," his father snarled.

Sirius looked at him, then back on his mother. "What?" he asked. "What are you going to do? So what if I like Peter and Remus? It's none of your business!"

"Oh, yes, it is!" Walburga bellowed. "You're our son, that makes it our business!"

"So forbid me to hang out with them! Big deal! Like you can stop me from doing what I want and meeting who I want. You've been trying to do that since I came to Hogwarts and what change did it make? None!"

His parents glared at him and by their expression, Sirius could tell they knew he was right.

"Listen, young man," his mother said sharply, "your behaviour only proves what it does to you to hang out with rotten blood like theirs. I will not have any of my children mixing with their kind. How often did I tell you to stay away from them? How many chances do you think you'll get?"

"Hm, maybe until you figured out how to control me when I'm at Hogwarts?"

His mother's eyes narrowed. "Watch yourself," she said. "I know hanging out with Mudbloods is some new hobby for you, but we haven't given you our pure blood for you to spill it on people like that. You're a bit too old for this rebellious behaviour. You're disgracing us."

Sirius snorted. "So I disgrace you. Like I'd care about that."

"Maybe you should," she bellowed, "because if you don't get a grip of yourself next year, we'll get you straight home and employ a private tutor. How does that sound for you?"

Sirius paled. He and Regulus had been taught privately before and when he had turned eleven and could finally attend to Howarts, he had been happier than ever before in his life. The idea of being stuck in this house instead of being at Hogwarts with his friends was to horrible to picture.

"I thought so," his mother hissed at him. "Now think about whether you want to humiliate me and your father any further, and when you're finally going to stick up to our family name."

She gave him another warning look before she turned around and went outside. Her husband followed. Sirius stared after them, wondering if they had been serious about teaching him at home rather than Hogwarts.

_If they are, I don't care_, he thought. _I'm not staying away from my friends and I'm not staying away from Hogwarts either._

So what if they fulfilled their threat? He would find a way of getting to Platform 9 3/4 on his own. And once he was there, they couldn't get him away that easily.

He slowly got up from his chair and walked upstairs to his own room. The house was quiet except for Kreacher, who muttered in the kitchen. Sirius could hear that his mother was with the elf. He didn't see or hear a sign from his father. Regulus was probably in his room.

Sirius pushed his door open and fell down on his bed with a sigh. His trunk had already been brought upstairs by Kreacher. He looked around. His own room was perhaps the only nice room in the house. He had decorated it with pretty much everything he knew his parents despised: Pictures of Muggle stuff, photographs of him and his friends, Gryffindor flags and stickers.

His mother had gone mental, and even more so when she had tried to get rid of them. But Sirius had followed her example and put a charm on everything, making it unable to be removed. The stuff would stick on these walls forever. Sirius smirked. It was a good feeling to leave a monument, since he did not plan to return to ever return to this house once he moved out. Years ago he had sworn an oath that as soon as he turned 17 he'd betake himself and stay away from Grimmauld Place. And the older he got, the stronger got the desire to get away from here. Only a couple of months, and he'd be 17, and his parents had no longer a saying in what he should and shouldn't do.

He opened his window and stared outside. He was thinking of his friends, especially James. Even though it had only been a couple of hours since they left King's Cross, it already felt like years. How was he supposed to survive the days without him?

Hopefully he was going to be able to convince his parents to let him visit James. They didn't despise the Potters as much as they did Remus and Peter for they were purebloods. His mother's pureblood-mania disgusted Sirius above anything else, and he hated his brother for following her footsteps. And his father wasn't a single bit better.

Sirius stared outside. He had been thinking about going outside, but now he didn't really feel like it any more. All he wanted to do was sleep and hope the next couple of days would be better.

It took him a while to fall asleep, but when he did, he dreamt about being at Hogwarts with Moony, Wormtail and Prongs.

It was a very peaceful night.


End file.
